Upgrade: a Knuckles chapter
by graciemutt
Summary: Told through the eyes of a certain Guardian, you get a front-row seat as Robotnik takes over Floating Island and destroys something close to Knuckles. AU.


Blood ran through my veins like fire, pumping as I surged onward.  The darkness cloaked the branches that reached at me, cutting me.  I dodged the large shadows produced by the moon, the trees were thick.

Static blared behind me, gears ground together, the noise almost covering the booming noise from tumbling trees._"__IHahaha/I !_" a sickening voice taunted.  IRobotnik_I_. 

The forest was seemed endless, even though I knew its every nook and cranny.  After all, in my entire life, I have ventured off the mini continent.  It was my heaven and hell on earth, dubbed Floating Island.  Still, the advantage of knowing the landscape is almost useless when your enemy is nearly indestructible and doesn't have to worry about actually going around the trees…..just crashes through them.

The minutes seemed like hours.  My breath came in ragged gasps and my lungs burned.  Thoughts of I_what if…_ /Icame to me.  What if Sonic never got my message?  What if he came too late?  What if Robotnik got his greasy digits on my Master Emerald?

Another surge of adrenaline hit my body and I was able to pick up even greater speed towards the temple.  And to think, this morning I had been considering a holiday….It didn't matter anymore.  All I knew was that as I had been returning home after my dusk-patrol I caught sight of a team of robots hacking down Imy/Itrees on Imy/I island.  The group was clearing a landing space for a large robot……the very machine that was now chasing me through the woods.  I didn't need any more info; Robotnik was always after one thing on my island.

 Too late, I saw about a dozen robots about my height hidden among the foliage ahead of me.  A second later, my world lit up with blood-red flashes of light.  I managed to avoid most of the innocent-appearing flashes of light, but a blast to my right shoulder had me drop to the ground in a Sonic Second.  A metal imitation of a hand picked me off the ground as easily as I could pick up a blade of grass.  But, instead of crushing grass, I was being crushed.

I had not the breath to scream, only feel the ribs snap from the grip of that tin can.  Thankfully, the pressure stopped increasing as it carried me off toward the center of Floating Island and the temple.

I didn't bother to raise my battered form from where the machine had dropped me.  I was too tired to do anything but concentrate on breathing.  My ribs seemed to crush me, I felt like I was suffocating.  Images of Sonic, Tails, Julie-su, and countless others flashed through my mind.  I had to be strong.

The giant robot stood frozen and facing the large crystal that created the miracle of a island that could sail the sky.  More like a sitting duck…….

 "Knuckles, dear boy, any last requests?" a deep voice cut through my thoughts.

Turning towards another hunk of metal with a screen revealing my all too familiar nemesis, I spat back "yea, get your butt out here so I don't have to travel all the way to"

-"enough!" the jerk cut me off.  Boy, someone was in a hurry…….

So, there was a huge robot weighing thousands of pounds and protected with thick armor pointing a gun barrel larger than my head at me, about a dozen robots doing something around my Master Emerald, I was having trouble just breathing, and Robotnik was more flipped-out than usual.  Things were not looking good, there wasn't a single sign that the brazen hedgehog was coming to my aid.  I began to despair, but kept my emotionless mask on tight.

With a deep breath, I leapt up from my spot on the ground and started to scale the iron mountain.  Quickly, I jumped over the gun and dug into the hard surface, climbing towards the head. 

One gunshot stopped me in my tracks.

Two rugged breaths before I looked down.

I had been shot.

Where I once sported a proud white crescent, it was now parted by a large red spot.  I touched it with one open hand, not believing.  The robot I had been scaling, grabbed me and sat me back down with surprising gentleness.  Mask forgotten, my orbs were wide with surprise.  Sitting in the cockpit of a small robot sat the fat man himself, with a large gun.

 "Guess all of that 'Do it yourself' advice worked," he whooped.


End file.
